Whew! Hey everyone! No, I have not abandoned this fic, or given up on my writing even though it's horrible. It's just that this is the first day that I have had time to myself in MONTHS! That's right! Before, I would write and publish at night, because i didn't have any other point in the day where I had time, but recently I have been suffering from that decision mentally and physically, so I took a week off. Please forgive me, the chapters should become regular again soon!

Also, there is some strong language in this chapter, just as a warning. Hope you don't mind.

Disclaimer: There are two today! So, as usual, I'm not J.k. That's a given. But also, my idea from the Hogwarts library is not entirely my own, and I simply cannot take full credit for it. There is a tumblr post that it is sort of based off of, I say sort of because it has been a long time since I saw it, and I can't remember every part of it so I filled in my own ideas. If you have so lucky to have seen the post, then you probably know that it's better than my interpretation. But I haven't seen it in a while, so i can't exactly say who it was that came up with it, but it definitely wasn't me!

Recap: Terri's and Eli's relationship continue to get worse, however James steps in and helps get Terri's life on track. The new DADA professor has arrived. Professor Turing makes a big impact, bringing a bowtruckle onto school grounds and discovering that Remus is a werewolf. The other three students in Lily's dorm are Arabella Layfield, Tammy Furst, and Aylin Fernley, all purebloods and very mean.


On Friday, Gryffindors and Slytherins sat in the potions classroom waiting for Slughorn. Lily and Marlene sat together, Eli and Maria in front of them.

When Professor Slughorn walked in, all the students quieted and watched him. "Alright, so today," he started, "we will be making the Befuddlement Draught." The class immediately got excited as students looked to their friends to be partners. "But," Slughorn continued, quieting everyone, "due to some incidents last year in this class. I will be assigning permanent partners for the year. Don't groan!" he said as the class groaned. "You only have to sit with them while making potions and I assigned each partner carefully, to ensure no problems.

"First: Cynthia Gibbon and Aurelio Wilkes. Verity Nott and Severus Snape. Seren Crabbe and Orson Mulciber. Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon—" ("McKinnon!") "—Remus Lupin and Sinistra Lowe. Elizabeth Smith and Aylin Fernley. Lily Evans and James Potter—"

"WHAT?!" The word spilled from both James's and Lily's mouths. Slughorn looked at them with wide eyes. Lily apologized softly and Slughorn continued.

"Casimir Avery and Peter Pettigrew. Lev Zabini and Arabella Layfield. Tammy Furst and Evan Rosier. And finally, Eric Tomkins and Maria Cooper."

Everyone moved seats grudgingly. "Professor," Lily said softly to Slughorn.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"Why did you put James and me together? Don't you think that will create 'problems?'" Lily asked.

"Well, he is the worst in this class and the three best are Severus, Remus, and you. I thought maybe he would learn the most working with you. You won't distract him and you have enough self-restraint to keep your bickering to a minimum."

Lily guessed he had a point, but she didn't like it. James jumped into the seat next to her, grinning. "Hello, Evans! Ready to help me pass?"

"Let me make one thing clear, Potter! You will do a fair share of the work and I will not do or answer everything. I am not Remus."

James put his hands up innocently. "Ok, then! Let's get started."

The potion took a while to make, but the two barely spoke, and when they did it was usually to criticize each other. Lily ended up doing most of the work, but James did participate.

As Lily put the cauldron on the burner (the last step) James turned to her. "So how's Thomas?"

"First of all, his name is Tommy. Second of all, why do you care?" Lily glared at him.

"Because it's interesting," James shrugged. Seeing Lily's glare grow harder, he sighed. "Fine, change of subject. Hmmm… Oh! You never answered my question! How was your summer?"

Lily rolled her eyes and rested her chin on her hand, watching Remus work on his potion while his partner Sinistra (a Slytherin) talked with Lev Zabini.

"Okay, then," James said. "I'll talk. Well, my summer was very good, thanks for asking. Sirius came to live with us, so he's practically my brother, now. I played a lot of Quidditch, that was fun. I ate a lot, too. Let's see, I went to a Hobgoblins concert, which, let me tell you, was awesome."

Lily was barely paying attention. She took the cauldron off the burner and started to stir it.

"So what's this potion supposed to do anyway?" James asked.

Lily smiled to herself. "Would you like to try it? That way we can see if it worked?"

James looked at her suspiciously. "Will it kill me?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "No!"

"Then fine." James took a vial and filled it with the potion Lily had finished stirring. He took a swig of it. Nothing happened at first. "Looks like you messed up, Evans."

But just after saying that, James took the half-full vial of the potion still in his hand and smashed it on the ground. Glass sprayed everywhere, causing everyone to scream. James shoved all of his supplies off the desk before walking over to Casimir Avery, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and punched him in the face. Casimir was so stunned that he couldn't fight back before Sirius and Remus ran up and grabbed James, pulling him back.

"Sorry, Cassie," Sirius said to Casimir. "'Fraid James had a little bit of that potion."

Slughorn ran over and poured and antidote into James's mouth, half of it going everywhere but the mouth since James was thrashing, trying to get to Avery. After a minute, James calmed down.

"Well, it appears that James and Lily brewed a perfect Draught. I was going to assign an essay on the effects of the Draught, but I think it's pretty clear what they are, so no homework. 10 points to Gryffindor for the successful brewing of Lily's and James's potion. 15 points from Gryffindor for drinking it without my permission." He finished just as the bell rang.

James started to pick his stuff off the floor when he felt someone next to him. He looked up to see Lily, bent down, picking up some of his stuff. She was incredibly close to him, too close for his liking.

"I'm really sorry James," she said, looking up at him so there faces were inches apart. "If I had known it had such an effect I wouldn't have told you to drink it." She handed him some papers.

James wanted to be mad at her. He really did. He tried to. But she was so close, and her eyes were so pleading and apologetic, and her voice sounded so sad that he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her. He might be mad at himself later, but he could not be mad at her now.

He smiled and shook his head. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Lily looked so relieved that he laughed. "Didn't think you cared much about my opinion of you," James said, standing up. He held out a hand for her.

She took it and stood up. Again, they were very close, their faces less than a foot apart. Lily sighed, saying, "Yeah, well, I know what it's like to have the Marauders mad at me. It's not fun."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" James asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure. But if you want to believe something different, then go ahead." She grabbed her own things off the desk and said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to Charms." And with that, she left.

And, for some reason, James felt like the space in front of him was just a little too empty and he felt just a little too lonely.

xoxo

On Saturday, a poster printed on the Announcements Board in the Gryffindor common room read:

Quidditch Tryouts

Looking for:

A Temporary Keeper
A Chaser

Next Friday at 5
Don't be late
No First Years

James and Sirius admired their handiwork as a crowd gathered.

"I hate tryouts. Everyone sucks," Sirius said. A few of the younger students looked at him sadly. James pulled Sirius away, telling the students that he was only joking.

"I hate them too, Padfoot, but what are we gonna do? We can't play with five people." They sat down at a table in a corner of the room.

"Please," Sirius said, sarcastically, "we could beat the other houses just me and you."

"You and me," Remus corrected, sitting down next to Sirius.

"Moony, I'm flattered, but you can't play Quidditch," Sirius deadpanned.

Peter sat down next to James and they started talking about the quidditch tryouts, and who they hoped would come. They were interrupted by the words, "James Potter." It was a said calmly, almost sweetly, and they looked up to see Lori Timmon standing above them, arms crossed, weight on one hip.

James gulped, "Yes?"

"I want on the team. Keeper, naturally," Lori said. Lori was tall, as tall as James. She had blonde hair with bangs in the front. The sides of her hair were pulled back into a braid. She was stronger than any of the Marauders and her clothes usually broke the dress code, but no one bothered to tell her so.

"Um, Lori," James said her name slowly and carefully, "you know that you have to try out to get on."

"You've seen me play." Lori said, her voice threatening.

"Yes, and you're quite good, but we have to be fair to everyone else who wants to try out," James said, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

"Fine," Lori said, teeth gritted. "But I better get on the team." She turned and stormed away.

All of the Marauders let out a breath. James and Sirius looked at each other. In truth, they would love to have Lori on the team, but she was too terrifying and she didn't get along with anyone.

Marlene came down from the dormitory soon and they told their worries to her, as she was a beater. After a half hour, they started to play exploding snap. Eventually, Eli, Maria, and Lily came down too and accepted the invitation to play. The eight sixth years stayed up until midnight playing, long enough for James and Sirius to forget about tryouts.

xoxo

Sunday went slowly for Lily. She got out of bed around ten, completely missing breakfast. She showered for what felt like two hours, but when she got out, her pocket watch told her it had been 45 minutes. She had three essays she had saved for the weekend, even though they were fairly easy, so she went to the library to power through them.

As soon as she got there, she regretted waking up so late. Her stomach was growling badly, and she would not let herself go to lunch before she was done with her essays. She supposed that would make her finish them faster, but it would probably make her focus less. She put her foot out and was met with a book under it.

In the Hogwarts library, there were three floors. However, there were no real staircases. Instead, there were specific shelves in corners of the library with enchanted books. These books, when called upon, created a book staircase to the next floor. Over the years, they grew to not even need a call, but simply flew under your foot whenever you were going to the next floor, even if you weren't near their shelves. The librarian called it a hindrance, always having the books flying around, but the students called it a blessing, since they didn't have to walk to the specific corners of the library and get lost along the way.

The first floor, the largest, held the most basic spell books and the restricted section, since the librarian didn't want it out of her sight. The second floor, the second largest, was mostly tables and chairs for reading, and housed a fireplace that was lit year-round, yet did not make it hot in summer. The third floor, the smallest, held the most advanced books, besides the restricted section. From any floor you could see the others, the library was open and had numerous windows that made it the most peaceful place in Hogwarts.

Lily put her feet out without looking and each time was met with a book under it. She started taking out one of her essays, the only one she had started. She looked up just in time to place her foot on the floor of the second level of the library.

She was not surprised to see many of the tables taken with other students who had waited until the last minute. She moved to one corner and sat down at an empty table. She had written literally three words when someone sat down across from her. She sighed and looked up.

A seventh year Hufflepuff sat across from Lily. She had mouse-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and a slightly round face. She grinned at Lily and Lily smiled back.

"Hello, Alice," Lily greeted. Alice Fawley was Lily's friend since her second year, Alice's third. Soon after, Lily had become friends with Alice's best friend—now boyfriend—Frank Longbottom.

"You will never guess who I just saw!" Alice said, her eyes wide.

Lily—all thoughts about her essays forgotten—leaned forward, saying, "Who? Tell me!"

"Aylin Fernley and Alex Turvey," Alice said, her voice hushed.

Lily's eyes widened. Alex Turvey was a muggleborn, and Aylin Fernley was a pureblood. Normally this would fine, but Aylin's best friend, Arabella, would find such a thing completely disgusting and a disgrace. "How did you even find them?" Lily asked.

At this, Alice blushed and looked away. "Um, Frank and I were looking for a broom closet, and we just opened it and saw them. It was awkward. But I knew I couldn't hold it in, so I just had to tell you!"

"I can't believe this!" Lily said, choosing to ignore the first part of Alice's story. "Did you tell anyone else?"

Alice shook her head. "No. I'm almost afraid for Aylin if Arabella finds out. She's almost as bad as the Slytherins with that kind of stuff!"

"I know, I know," Lily nodded. "But as long as we don't tell anyone, Arabella will not find out."

Alice nodded. Then she looked at the parchment on the table in front of Lily. "Waiting until the last minute?"

Lily shrugged.

Alice shook her head and sighed. "Well then, I should leave, or else you'll be here all day." She started to get up, but Lily whined for her to stay. "Lily, if I stay, I will distract you, and you will never finish this essay. Plus any other essays I'm sure you waited until today to do."

Lily watched her leave before turning back to her charms essay. But only minutes had passed before Eli sat down across from Lily and started talking without waiting for Lily to even look at her.

"Okay, so Jack broke up with me again today," Eli said, referring to her on-again-off-again boyfriend. "And when I asked him why, he said that I was smothering him! Smothering! Do I smother? Am I the smothering type?! No! The answer is no!"

"Eli, he just broke up with you so that you'll stay with him," Lily said, having seen this pattern before. "If you're done with him, make sure it's clear. And don't run back to him."

"But I don't know if I'm done with him!" Eli whined. "I mean he's so perfect!"

"Eli! He uses you!" Lily hissed.

"I know," Eli sighed. She stared blankly at the desk in front of her for a few moments before looking back at Lily. "Okay," she said. "I am done with him. I won't crawl back this time. Promise."

Lily nodded. "Good." She had wanted to end the conversation there, but another thought occurred to her. "Eli? Did you talk to Terri?"

Eli looked at Lily, confused. "No, why?"

"She's doing better. You can see it. But she's still not okay," Lily said, watching Eli carefully.

"Maybe she came to her senses," Eli grumbled.

"Eli," Lily said, her as kind as she could make it, "can you please tell me what's going on with you and her?"

Eli sighed and thought about it. "It's our parents," she said, looking around as if she expected people to be listening. "They were fighting all summer. They tried to keep us out of it, but…" her voice trailed away and she took a deep breath before starting again. "Terri and I, we took sides. I took our mom's and she took our dad's. Then we were the ones arguing. Before we got on the train, I told her I didn't want to talk to her anymore. She said the same about me. Funny how that only lasted a day for her."

Lily could only stare at Eli. "El, I'm so sorry you're going through this. You should have told me! You don't have to do it alone."

"But I'm fine on my own."

"But Terri isn't," Lily said. "She needs you, and whatever argument you're having, you need to put it aside for her."

Eli looked at Lily for a long time before saying, "Okay. Good talk. I'm gonna go get some lunch now." And with that, she left.

Lily groaned. Her stomach was literally hurting, it was so hungry. She started to write her essay, again. This time, her technique working, she managed to write a lot due to her hunger. But, of course, she was interrupted by someone else sitting down.

"What?" Lily snapped, not looking up.

"Sheesh, Red, you'd think with everything you just heard that you'd be a little grateful for my presence."

Lily groaned and looked up to see James staring at her. "Were you eavesdropping?" James only shrugged. "Where were you? And how much did you hear?"

"Behind that shelf," James gestured behind him to a bookshelf a few feet away. "And I didn't hear that much, just enough to know about Aylin and Alex, which is a major plot twist. I did not see that coming at all."

"I cannot believe you! That was my entire conversation since I got here," Lily said, angrily.

"Well, I did hear your stomach growling so I got you this." James pulled out a folded napkin and placed it on the table. It unfolded to reveal a crescent, a treacle tart, and two cookies.

"What did you do to them?" Lily asked, eying the food.

"I'm offended by your accusations," James said, seriously. Lily shrugged and picked up the tart.

"You know that you can't tell anyone about Aylin and Alex. If Arabella finds out, it will be a mess."

"Yeah, yeah." James waved her off. "I won't tell anyone."

"And you especially can't tell anyone about what Eli said," Lily warned, her voice threatening.

"I won't," James said. "But I am curious—"

"Oh, no."

"Do you have any secrets you'd like to share?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Only one," Lily said. "I'm very crunched for time, so I would appreciate if you left me alone. And by that, I mean leave."

"Fine," James sighed over dramatically, "but you take the fun out of everything!" And, to Lily's surprise, he got up and left.

Lily made sure he was gone before picking up the other food on the napkin and eating it.

xoxo

Monday night in the Gryffindor common room was just another night. The Marauders were hustling younger students, upperclassmen were chatting by the fireplace, students were sitting at tables and talking or doing homework. Yes, it was just another night, that is, until...

"You whore!" Arabella Layfield screamed, walking in with Tammy Furst trailing behind her. "You goddamn, good-for-nothing, weasel-faced, slutty, whore!"

Everyone in the common room was silent and all eyes were on Arabella as she walked over to Aylin Fernley, who was sitting innocently in an armchair.

"I can't believe you would drop yourself low enough to fuck a mudblood. To tarnish everything good about you! And Alex Turvey, no less! You should be ashamed of yourself." Arabella turned, and walked out of the common room through the portrait hole, Tammy Furst never leaving her side.

Everyone was in shock, and for a while no one moved. Everyone turned to look at Aylin, expecting her to cry or yell, but she surprised everyone.

She stood calmly, looked around without saying a word, and walked to the girls' dormitory as if nothing had happened.

Once she was gone, people began to move again. Some even began to speak. After a few minutes, everyone was back to normal.

Lily, however was quite mad. She knew who told Arabella. Even if she didn't exactly like Aylin, no one deserved that.

Lily stormed over to the Marauders, Marlene, Eli, and Maria following. She walked up to James and practically yelled, "How could you?"

James put his hands up defensively. "Now, I know what you're thinking, but I didn't tell her! I only told Peter, Sirius, and Remus!"

Lily shot him one last glare before looking to the three other boys. "Well?"

"Lily," Remus said. "It wasn't me. I hope you know that."

"Well it wasn't me either!" Peter said. "Whenever I get too close to Arabella she threatens to hex me."

Everyone turned to Sirius. "I might have mentioned something to Evelyn Bywater when we hooked up last night. It was a onetime thing," he added, oddly guilty.

"She's best friends with Arabella, you idiot!" Marlene said.

"Thanks, Potter. Thanks, Black," Lily said, sarcastically. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go fix your mistakes." Lily walked over to the girls' dormitory.

Lily walked in to find Aylin face down on her bed, sobbing. "Whoever it is, go away!" she choked out.

"It's Lily. Are you okay?"

"Do you think I'm fucking okay? I was just humiliated in front of everyone and you ask if I'm okay?

"Alright, that's a fair point. That was a stupid question. Do you want to talk?" Lily asked.

Aylin moved and sat up so that she was sitting on the edge of her bed. Her makeup was smudged all over her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy. Lily was almost satisfied to find out that she could look this bad.

"I don't want to talk. Just go away," Aylin practically begged.

"Sorry but I can't," Lily shrugged. She went into the bathroom and got a wet cloth. When she came out, she sat next to Aylin and said, "How about I talk?" Aylin only shrugged.

Lily started to wash the makeup off Aylin's face with the cloth. "Everyone down there feels really bad. I can't even begin to imagine what that felt like, and I'm so sorry it happened."

"I am too," Aylin muttered. "It's all Alice Fawley's fault!"

"No," Lily said. "It really isn't."

"Then whose is it? Do you know?" Aylin asked, a fire in her eyes.

"I do, but it wasn't their fault either," Lily said, sincerely. "Arabella is the reason this happened and she should be sorry. Aylin, she is not a good friend."

"I know," Aylin muttered.

Then why are you still friends with her?" Lily asked incredulously.

"I don't think I am anymore," Aylin said.

"Aylin, I've never seen you like this. Depressed, insecure, it's just not you."

"Thanks," Aylin said, sarcastically.

"What I mean is, no one should make you feel that way. You don't deserve to be treated this way. Especially someone who claims to be your 'friend.'"

"I know."

"Then why do you stay friends with her?"

"Where else am I supposed to go?" Aylin cried. "I have no other friends. You and your friends hate me, everyone else at this school hates me, and now even my friends hate me. I don't have anywhere to go."

"We don't hate you," Lily said. But then she thought better of it and said, "Well, I don't hate you, at least."

"See? You can't even vouch for your friends. At least with Arabella and Tammy, I knew they wouldn't leave me." She laughed mockingly. "Guess I was wrong about that too! I've never felt more stupid in my entire life. And all of Gryffindor Tower knows I slept with Alex, now, so that makes me feel so much better." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm sorry this happened. You don't deserve it," Lily said. "But you'll find new friends. Ones that won't leave you for stupid reason, and won't make you feel bad."

"We can only hope."

"For now, you should sleep. You've had a long day and I think that some rest will help you feel better. In the morning, everything will be fine, promise."

"Lily," Aylin ask, hesitantly, "if I left Hogwarts because of this, what would you do?"

Lily thought for a moment before saying, "Well, I would be very disappointed. I know you're strong enough to come back from this, and I would be upset if you didn't at least try to do so."

Aylin nodded and lay down on the bed. As Lily started to walk out, Aylin called out, "Oh, and Lily?"

Lily stopped and turned to look at her. "Yeah?

"Thanks," Aylin said, in the most sincere tone Lily had ever heard hear her use.

"You are very welcome," Lily said, before walking out.


Oh, dear. So, that got a little out of hand. Anyway, next chapter is called "Fear," and I am beyond excited for you to read it. Hopefully that will drive me to write more, and get chapter 6 out at a reasonable time. But, hey, you never know what life will decide to throw at me next!

If you like this chapter/story, please review, follow, favourite, and enjoy! I love feedback, good and bad, and it always makes me write more! See ya next time!

~Jill
MissSlytherinxoxo

XOXO